Darwin

Tonight’s two-hour episode of “Nova’’ is a departure for the PBS science series. “Darwin’s Darkest Hour’’ is a hybrid of costume drama, biopic, and highly art-directed natural history lesson. Viewers who tune in late might well think they’re watching an episode of “Masterpiece Classic.’’ This year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of what was probably the most momentous book of the 19th century, Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.’’ In it, the great naturalist set out his theory of natural selection, from which we derive our...

In "Games Primates Play" Dario Maestripieri, a University of Chicago professor and author of the cleverly titled "Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World," sifts our understanding of monkey behavior for insights into human behavior. Since the human brain has evolved to cope with many of the same social problems and situations that influenced the evolution of monkeys' brains, it makes sense that their behavior patterns, while perhaps appearing different on the surface, might be similar at a deeper level.

NEW YORK -- Howard Ernest Gruber, a scholar of cognitive psychology who was also noted for his writings on the development of Darwin's theories on evolution, died of pneumonia in Manhattan Jan. 25 at age 82. Mr. Gruber dedicated his life to the study of cognition, a process of knowing that includes both awareness and judgment. He became known for his study of Darwin's thinking as he used observations of natural selection to create the theory of evolution. With a PhD in psychology from Cornell, he taught at the University of Colorado and the New School for Social Research.

Betsy Levinson photo Alex Walker as Charles Darwin blows out candles on his cake as Pat Everett of Concord Area Humanists looks on. By Betsy Levinson, Globe Correspondent Finding a wormhole to travel into the 21st century, Charles Darwin, author of "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection," celebrated his 203rd birthday Sunday with a cake and an overflow crowd of well-wishers in Concord. Darwin, also known as actor Alex Walker, described his journey from failed medical student and unsuccessful village pastor to noted scientist at the...

Music Through the Floor By Eric Puchner Scribner, 209 pp., $24 The broad range and perfect pitch of these stories are astounding. Here are the young and the very young; male and female; the lonely, confused, depressed, hopeless, and (more poignantly) hopeful. In "Essay #3: Leda and the Swan," a teenage girl begins her English paper with this view of the Yeats poem: "This swan is clearly a sex-starved animal that doesn't belong in Ireland, let alone a city park!

Two strands of the Cantata Singers' activities met in Friday's concert, the group's season finale. One was Benjamin Britten, the composer on whom the ensemble has focused much of its attention this season. The other was its commitment to educational outreach. The confluence of the two made for an unusual but rewarding evening. Opening the program was a rare performance of "The Company of Heaven," a cantata composed by Britten for radio broadcast. It sets a large group of widely disparate texts about angels, from the Bible to John Ruskin.

With the Iraq war ending and an Afghanistan exit in sight, the Marine Corps is beginning a historic shift, returning to its roots as a seafaring force that will get smaller, lighter and, it hopes, less bogged down in land wars. This moment of change happens to coincide with a reorienting of American security priorities to the Asia-Pacific region, where China has been building military muscle during a decade of U.S. preoccupation in the greater Middle East. That suits the Marines, who see the Pacific as a home away from home.

AUSTIN, Texas - The debate over teaching evolution in public schools flared up again at the Texas State Board of Education yesterday, with supporters and opponents of the approach sparring at a meeting over supplemental science materials for the upcoming school year and beyond. The Republican-dominated board drew national attention in 2009 when it adopted science standards encouraging schools to scrutinize "all sides" of scientific theory, a move some creationists hailed as a victory.

The opening titles of “Creation’’ call Charles Darwin’s 1859 “On the Origin of Species’’ “the biggest single idea in the history of thought’’ and promises that “this is the story of how it came to be written.’’ The first claim is arguably true - doesn’t the wheel count for something? - while the second is unfortunately not. “Creation’’ tries so hard to dramatize Darwin’s spiritual, physical, marital, and mental agonies during the writing of “Origin’’ that it turns overwrought and impenetrable.

On Sunday, it will be exactly 203 years since the birth of Charles Darwin. And if that doesn't seem particularly noteworthy to you, don't say so to the Concord Area Humanists. The group is planning a gala celebration in honor of the evolutionary biologist, complete with a discussion, a Darwin impersonator, a birthday cake, and a showing of "Journey of the Universe," a documentary by Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker. But there's always room for more among their midst, which is why the group hopes for a strong turnout Sunday.

On Sunday, it will be exactly 203 years since the birth of Charles Darwin. And if that doesn't seem particularly noteworthy to you, don't say so to the Concord Area Humanists. The group is planning a gala celebration in honor of the evolutionary biologist, complete with a discussion, a Darwin impersonator, a birthday cake, and a showing of "Journey of the Universe," a documentary by Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker. But there's always room for more among their midst, which is why the group hopes for a strong turnout Sunday.

LONDON - British scientists have published photos of scores of fossils that evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and his peers collected but that had been lost for more than 150 years. Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang, a paleontologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, said yesterday that he stumbled upon the glass slides containing the fossils last April in an old wooden cabinet that had been shoved in a "gloomy corner" of the massive, drafty British Geological Survey. Using a flashlight to peer into the drawers and hold up a slide, Falcon-Lang saw that one of the first...

“What Darwin Got Wrong’’ is an intensely irritating book. Jerry Fodor, a well-known philosopher, with coauthor Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, a cognitive scientist, has written a whole book trashing Darwinian evolutionary theory - the theory that makes natural selection the main force of change in organisms through the ages. You would think that somewhere in the pages there would be one - just one - discussion of the work that evolutionists are doing today to give a sense of how the field itself has evolved.

The opening titles of “Creation’’ call Charles Darwin’s 1859 “On the Origin of Species’’ “the biggest single idea in the history of thought’’ and promises that “this is the story of how it came to be written.’’ The first claim is arguably true - doesn’t the wheel count for something? - while the second is unfortunately not. “Creation’’ tries so hard to dramatize Darwin’s spiritual, physical, marital, and mental agonies during the writing of “Origin’’ that it turns overwrought and impenetrable.

Tonight’s two-hour episode of “Nova’’ is a departure for the PBS science series. “Darwin’s Darkest Hour’’ is a hybrid of costume drama, biopic, and highly art-directed natural history lesson. Viewers who tune in late might well think they’re watching an episode of “Masterpiece Classic.’’ This year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of what was probably the most momentous book of the 19th century, Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.’’ In it, the great naturalist set out his theory of natural selection, from which we...

Two strands of the Cantata Singers' activities met in Friday's concert, the group's season finale. One was Benjamin Britten, the composer on whom the ensemble has focused much of its attention this season. The other was its commitment to educational outreach. The confluence of the two made for an unusual but rewarding evening. Opening the program was a rare performance of "The Company of Heaven," a cantata composed by Britten for radio broadcast. It sets a large group of widely disparate texts about angels, from the Bible to John Ruskin.

LONDON - British scientists have published photos of scores of fossils that evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and his peers collected but that had been lost for more than 150 years. Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang, a paleontologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, said yesterday that he stumbled upon the glass slides containing the fossils last April in an old wooden cabinet that had been shoved in a "gloomy corner" of the massive, drafty British Geological Survey. Using a flashlight to peer into the drawers and hold up a slide, Falcon-Lang saw that one of the first specimens he had...

PHILADELPHIA -- Thanks to the "intelligent design" movement, Charles Darwin's birthday is evolving into everything from a badminton party to church sermons this weekend. Defenders of Darwin's theory of natural selection are planning hundreds of events around the world Sunday, the 197th anniversary of his birth, saying recent challenges to the teaching of evolution have re-emphasized the need to promote his work. "The people who believe in evolution .. . really just sort of need to stand up and be counted," said Richard Leventhal, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of...

LONDON - After the Sunday service in Westminster Chapel, where worshipers were exhorted to wage "the culture war" in the World War II spirit of Sir Winston Churchill, cabdriver James McLean delivered his verdict on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. "Evolution is a lie, and it's being taught in schools as fact, and it's leading our kids in the wrong direction," said McLean, chatting outside the chapel. "But now people like Ken Ham are tearing evolution to pieces. " Ken Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis, a Kentucky-based organization that is part of an ambitious...

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Darwin N. Davis, who was among the first blacks to hold a top corporate position after rising through the ranks of an insurance company, has died. He was 74. Mr. Davis, who lived in Stamford, died Sunday during a business trip to Philadelphia, his son Derek said. His wife, Velmarie, said the cause was cardiac arrest. Last year Mr. Davis was named as one of "the bravest generation" by Fortune magazine for being among the first black executives to fight their way to the top of corporate America.